Boca Planners Endorse Performing Arts School

March 11, 1988|By NEIL SANTANIELLO, Staff Writer

BOCA RATON -- Conceptual plans to bring to the city a world-class performing arts school that would enroll gifted students on full scholarships won approval from the city`s Planning and Zoning Board on Thursday.

The proposal to build the non-profit Harid Conservatory got a warm reception from some residents of the Millpond development, whose homes are next to the 3-acre site chosen for the school by the College of Boca Raton.

Three Millpond homeowners attended the preliminary public hearing and lauded the addition of a world-class conservatory of music and dance to the city.

``Without equivocation, we are for the project. It really brings a great element of culture to the community,`` said Millpond resident Stan Schmucker, whose only protest centered on the architect`s selection of red barrel-tile roofs for two dormitory buildings.

The roof color would not blend into the neighborhood, and would stick out ``like a sore thumb,`` he said.

Board members unanimously approved the project, but tacked on a condition that the conservatory, situated at the northeast corner of the E-3 Canal and Potomac Road, be limited to 75 students.

The board had postponed its vote at an earlier meeting so that the site, which contains environmentally sensitive scrub land, could be reviewed by the city`s Environmental Advisory Board.

Rick Wolf, representing the advisory board, told Planning and Zoning Board members the site was acceptable. Protected species of plants and animals would have to be moved to another site, Wolf said.

The cost for the school will be assumed by a wealthy Boca Raton resident who prefers to remain an anonymous benefactor, according to Kathleen Bannon, a Boca Raton resident and former member of a New York ballet company, She will be administrative director of the conservatory.

Auditions for prospective students, set to begin in April, will be held in 18 major cities.

The conservatory will have an international faculty. During its first year, 40 students will be enrolled, Bannon said.

Bannon has said a peformance center is not planned for the site, which had been the southwest corner of the College of Boca Raton`s campus before the college sold the property to the conservatory.

The school facilities will consist of a one-story conservatory building of contemporary design, and two Mediterranean-style, two-story dorms, project architect Thor Amlie said.

Julia Quesada, a Boca Raton resident and student of ballet who has a child in ballet school in London, said she was thrilled such a school was coming to the city.

``It is badly needed,`` she said.

In other business, the board postponed discussion of a proposed ordinance concerning increasing the number of areas where adult congregate living facilities could be located.